


In Stitches

by disembodied-doll (noblescientist)



Category: Saiyuki Ibun
Genre: Mutual Pining, Other, in which Houmei needs something to do with his hands and gets nice final products from it, neeerds, no edit no beta we post like impatient men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 21:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14173803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblescientist/pseuds/disembodied-doll
Summary: Houmei never really studied. What was he doing in the study room? And where did he get a scarf from all of a sudden?





	In Stitches

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nighttimefjaeril](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nighttimefjaeril/gifts).



The others were studying. Jyoan was trying to focus, but they’d been at it for hours, and his mind wandered. He glanced up to the corner of the room, where Genkai and Toudai were working together, and Houmei was keeping them company. He was sprawled back, his feet behind Toudai, fiddling with something. Occasionally he would contribute something, a concept he somehow understood better than the other two, but mostly he was listening and staring at the ceiling. Or, more likely, Jyoan thought viciously, he was spacing out and focusing on whatever the hell he was fidgeting with, because he was an utter ditz who just happened to have some unfair natural talent for some of this. There was no skill involved.

Jyoan turned back to his own study with a haughty snort. He didn’t have to worry about Houmei passing his scores on this particular test, he was certain. He elbowed Ganpuku, who was in danger of falling asleep on the final portion of his work, and got back to his own.

Later on, just before dinner, the candidates started clearing their materials, and Jyoan glanced back to the corner. Houmei was wearing a scarf he hadn’t had before, fidgeting with the ends of it. Toudai was shaking his head, laughing, ostensibly at Houmei. Even his actual friends laughed at him. He was probably cold because he was lazing about while the others were working!

And then he turned, and Jyoan saw his hands working. The scarf he suddenly wore— a colour combination that suited him well, an autumnal orange fading in and out of red tones— was coming together in his hands. The man was crocheting the end of the scarf as they cleared their things, and Toudai was incredulous. He wasn’t laughing at Houmei, he was impressed.

Jyoan only realised he was staring when Houmei met his eyes. They were startlingly hazel, Jyoan noticed suddenly, contrasting the orange in the scarf he seemed to have finished. They were usually closed or squinting, but now they scrutinised Jyoan as he rolled his own violet eyes and looked away, trying to look more casual than he suddenly felt.

The next day when they came out of their exam, with Houmei looking for all the world as if he’d aced it, there was a heap of a lovely royal purple _something_ sitting in Jyoan’s usual lunch spot. He picked it up and realised with a pang that it was an incredibly soft scarf. It was made of fine woolen yarn with a subtle gradient from royal purple to a soft grey at the ends, and on one end there was an embellishment made of slightly thicker yarn, a stiffer wool woven together into a perfect, dusty pink rose.

Jyoan couldn’t resist draping it around his collarbones, the rose resting just over the tattoo he had of the same flower, a fashionable careless look he had perfected with scarves of lesser quality. He glanced at his reflection, as was his habit, the next time he passed a suitably reflective window. The colours in the scarf complimented his complexion and hair perfectly.

He barely noticed Houmei watching him pass as he ate lunch alongside Genkai. He allowed a smile to grace his lips before continuing to fashion a lotus flower of woolen yarn and finishing his lunch.

**Author's Note:**

> This is all thanks to a conversation on Discord with Beccafiend and Nighttimefjaeril. Also an apology for an AU I owe the latter which is going nowhere.


End file.
